Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for February, 2011. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.
A collection of outstanding articles recently posted to blogs, your reading here will be richly rewarded.
See the end of this post for links to submit your blog posts for the next carnival, or for participating Bloggers and Featured Bloggers to grab your sidebar badges. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Featured Posts
Penny Sansevieri presents Smart Self-Publishing: How to Get Published Without Getting Scammed posted at Author Marketing Experts, Inc.. “Something I learned early on in this industry is that publishing, like any other industry, is full of scams. Not everyone is unethical; however, there are a certain number of people who prey on someone’s desire for success by offering them pie-in-the-sky promises they can never fulfill. In our series on smart self-publishing, we’re going to look at a few different industry segments, starting first with publishers and finding the right one for you.”
Belinda Kroll presents Creating Custom Tabs on Facebook Pages posted at Worderella Writes, saying, “Learn how to make your Facebook page have a custom landing page. In the comments, learn how to add your Goodreads information as a tab on your page.”
Joanna Penn presents Content Marketing For Authors And Writers posted at The Creative Penn. “Content marketing is the concept that underpins blogging and the freemium style of marketing used more and more now. It’s important to understand the why behind what we are doing.”
Book Design and Production
James Moushon presents eBook Publishers: Are eBook Copyright Pages Missing Information? posted at The eBook Author’s Corner, saying, “Self-publishers should include this information. Their ebooks will be around for a very long time. Readers will need this type of information in the years to come especially if they are going to try to match the ebook to a hardcover book.”
Thomas Burchfield presents A Curious Man: Unfinished Business #6: Reassurance posted at A Curious Man, saying, “A new, but minor roadblock on the road to self-publishing described. Thanks for reading!”
Annette Berlin presents How To Bind A Book posted at Craft Stew, saying, “Have you ever dreamed of publishing just a few select copies of your writing? Here are 115 bookbinding tutorials to help you get started.”
Ebooks and Ebook Readers
Eldon Sarte presents A WordPress Book That Seems to Get It posted at Wordpreneur, saying, “Pricing ebooks is obvious. Or is it?”
Indie Author
Caroline Barnard-Smith presents The New Californian Gold Rush posted at Screaming into the Virtual Wind, saying, “An account of my first foray into the world of indie publishing.”
Nick Daws presents Interview with Children’s Author Lorraine Hellier posted at Nick Daws’ Writing Blog, saying, “UK author Lorraine Hellier has self-published three children’s books to date.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Sarah Bolme presents The Truth about Book Sales posted at Marketing Christian Books.
Leigh Ellwood presents The Cost of Tweeting – Effective Author Promo? posted at Me Want Food.
Jamie DeBree presents Revisiting Prices posted at Beyond the Words, saying, “Marketing and selling your books, Remarks, Thoughts on pricing, and “indie books” vs. “books””
Dana Lynn Smith presents Promote Your Book on the Goodreads Network – The Savvy Book Marketer posted at The Savvy Book Marketer.
Mary Tod presents Interpreting Mike Shatzkin & Mitch Joel posted at One Writer’s Voice, saying, “This post brings together ideas about new markets for English language writers and the consequent need for global marketing (Shatzkin) with the ready availability of content and the need to be where your readers are (Joel).”
Sue Collier presents Ask for help-and sell more books! posted at Self-Publishing Resources.
Self-Publishing Success
Nick Daws presents How Do You Use Facebook as a Writer? [Open Thread] posted at Nick Daws’ Writing Blog, saying, “In this post I talk about how I use Facebook to help promote my books and services, and invite other writers to share their experiences. Please do join in the discussion!”
O.C. Heaton presents Is the book editor an endangered species? posted at A Rush of Green, saying, “Hi again Joel – a post based on editorial from The Globe and Mail: Where have all the book editors gone? Thanks, O.C. Heaton.”
Nick Daws presents My Novella Now Available on Kindle! posted at Nick Daws’ Writing Blog, saying, “I have just released a new, fully illustrated version of my science fiction novella ‘The Festival on Lyris Five’ for the Amazon Kindle.”
Writing Tools & Tips
Donna Marie Williams presents Easy book writing for people who talk posted at The Celebrity Editor.
O.C. Heaton presents How to write posted at A Rush of Green, saying, “Hi Joel, This is a post about how I write. The answer? Freestyle! Hope you enjoy!”
Erica Vernon presents 5 Tips for Writers to Improve Productivity posted at Online Marketing Degree.
Alexander M Zoltai presents Blogging ~ Can It Really Fulfill The Writer?s Dictum: ?Write Every Day!?? posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “How blogging might help you in your “other” writing :-)”
Leslye PJ Reaves presents Introducing Your Characters posted at The Quotable, saying, “A video of tips for introducing your characters.”
Patricia Benesh presents Want to Get Your Book Published? Don’t Forget the Six Basics posted at Author Assist.
Thomas McGee presents Borders Bankruptcy: How to Compete in a Tough Retail Market posted at WinePress of Words.
How to Take Part in the Carnival of the Indies
Well, that wraps up this issue. I hope you enjoy some of the great articles here, and let other people interested in self-publishing know about the Carnival—Use the share buttons below to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Link to it! The next issue is March 26, 2011 and the deadline for submissions will be March 20, 2011. Don’t miss it! Here are all the links you’ll need:
The original announcement post
Carnival of the Indies web page
Submit your article here
Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter
Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog